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‘The New Mutants’ Film Scares Up its First Poster

This spring will see the debut of a new group of superheroes who are mutants, but not part of the X-Men, and their movie aims to be nothing like the complicated long-running franchise featuring their elders.

Today’s release of the creepy first poster for The New Mutants confirms that director Josh Boone is going all-in on something totally new: a superhero horror movie.

“We are making a full-fledged horror movie set within the X-Men universe,” Boone (The Fault in our Stars) said. “There are no costumes. There are no supervillains. We’re trying to do something very, very different.”

Debuting back in the 1980s, The New Mutants (created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bob McLeod) comic book series featured a handful of youngsters gathered by X-Men mentor Professor Xavier, who intended to teach them how to control their powers, but not for the purpose of being superheroes. However, events conspired to force the fledgling team into battle.
The first trailer for New Mutants is very atmospheric and backs up Boone’s contention by looking exactly like a straight-up horror flick:

From 20th Century Fox, the same studio that brought us the comedic Deadpool and the grim drama Logan, The New Mutants film features a mix of characters from the comics, including: Maisie Williams (GAME OF THRONES) as Wolfsbane, who transforms into wolf form; Anya Taylor-Joy (Split) as Magik, a demon-trained sorceress; Charlie Heaton as Cannonball, who is invulnerable when he flies; Blu Hunt asDani Moonstar, who can create illusions; and Henry Zaga as Sunspot — who in the comics was super-strong, but his powers in the movie appear to allow him to project solar energy. It remains to be seen how the abilities of the others might be changed.

The official synopsis for the story describes it thusly:

Held in a secret facility against their will, five new mutants have to battle the dangers of their powers, as well as the sins of their past. They aren’t out to save the world — they’re just trying to save themselves.

If this new crop of characters and the movie click with audiences, Boone is ready with two sequels that will be similar, but different:

“We brought it to Fox as a trilogy of films, really all based on that long run by [artist Bill] Sienkiewicz, and kind of incorporates some stuff from later issues in the ‘80s. These are all going to be horror movies, and they’ll all be their own distinct kind of horror movies. This is certainly the ‘rubber-reality’ supernatural horror movie. The next one will be a completely different kind of horror movie.”